About Victoria Police

Research

Release date: Wed 14 September 2011

Last updated: Thu 13 April 2017

Research and Victoria Police

Victoria Police is committed to undertaking and supporting research to deliver best practice police services to the Victorian community. Victoria Police seeks to ensure research is aligned with organisational strategic priorities. The following is a list of example research topics that may be of interest to researchers that currently has relevance to the organisation:

Family Violence

Community Safety

Serious and Organised Crime

Health and Safety of Victoria Police Members

Drug and alcohol

Road Policing

Volume Crime

Ethics and Integrity in Policing

Cyber Crime and Safety

Community engagement

Research is undertaken by various departments within Victoria Police, academics and by external research organisations. Victoria Police has built strong research collaborations through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grants program and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security.

Conducting research with Victoria Police

Victoria Police seeks to collaborate with researchers who are interested in undertaking projects that are aligned with the organistional strategic priorities. If you wish to conduct research with Victoria Police, then you must satisfy the relevant application processes.

Applying to conduct research with Victoria Police

If you wish to conduct research with Victoria Police personnel, data or resources:

All external researchers are required to seek approval from Research Coordinating Committee (RCC).

Should the Research Coordinating Committee (RCC) approved research project involve 'human research', researchers may be required to seek approval of the Victoria Police Human Research Ethics Committee (VPHREC).

The Research Coordinating Committee (RCC) will review applications for proposed research applications against a number of criteria, including:

External individuals and research organisations wishing to undertake research,

Victoria Police employees who wish to conduct research for the purposes of gaining an academic qualification.

The Research Coordinating Committee (RCC) will review applications for proposed research applications against a number of criteria, including:

The potential application of results to police work,

The utility and validity of the research,

Privacy, confidentiality and data security compliance,

The impact that the project demands may have on police resources,

The alignment of the research with the Victoria Police Research Agenda.

The Victoria Police Human Research Ethics Committee (VPHREC) is registered with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and considers the ethical acceptability of research proposals from external organisations and internal researchers wishing to conduct research involving Victoria Police personnel or data.

Applications considered by the Victoria Police Human Research Ethics Committee (VPHREC) ensure that:

All research involving human participants that is conducted by external researchers or commissioned by Victoria Police, complies with the principles and guidelines set out in the National Statement for Ethical Conduct in Human Research (the National Statement),

The welfare and the rights of participants in research are protected,

There is a uniform and coordinated approach to research activities within Victoria Police.

The Victoria Police Human Research Ethics Committee (VPHREC) and the Justice Human Research Ethics Committee (JHREC) have established a streamlined review process, in accordance with the National Statement, for projects that involve Victoria Police together with areas of the Department of Justice and Regulation (Victoria).

Researchers will need to contact the VPHREC Secretary to confirm whether their project is suitable for the streamlined review process. Projects deemed suitable for streamlined review will now only be required to complete a JHREC Application form, which includes the Victoria Police and Department of Justice and Regulation components of their research project in the one JHREC application form. Such applications will be considered at a JHREC meeting with VPHREC representatives in attendance.

Research Protocols

The Research Protocols have been designed to inform and assist external researchers and research organisations wishing to undertake research with Victoria Police. Please refer to the Research protocols when preparing your application to the Research Coordinating Committee (RCC) and Victoria Police Human Research Ethics Committee (VPHREC). The protocols also refer to other documents such as legislation and standards and where possible hotlinks (marked as blue underlined text) to these documents are included. When reading an electronic version of the protocols on a computer with a web connection, clicking on the hotlink will take you to an online version of the document.